Here in Southern California, we don’t have a lot of power outages, but as temperatures continue to increase as a result of global warming, the load on the grid to cover the ever-increasing load of air conditioning units is making outages a more frequent occurrence. During an outage earlier today, I reflected on Honda’s announcement of its Power Exporter 9000 vehicle-to-home charging system at CEATEC Japan 2015, and where it could fit to help home and business owners keep the lights on (and the money flowing) with vehicle-to-home (V2H) solutions.

With EVs approaching critical mass for wide-spread adoption, we are seeing some of the future possibilities sprouting in the form of new products from some of the big names in the industry. This unit allows owners of CHAdeMO-equipped EVs to tap their EV battery to power all their normal household items. Specific applications include providing V2H power during an outage, enabling emergency personnel to keep the lights on in life-saving situations, and off grid applications like camping.

From Honda’s CEATEC Japan 2015 Overview:

“The Power Exporter 9000 is an external power feeding device that enables AC power output from a fuel-cell vehicle (FCV) with maximum output of 9 kW.”

Honda is specifically marketing this solution paired with its hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle — the Honda FCV — though it could conceivably be used with CHAdeMO-equipped battery electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf (with fast charging option), Kia Soul EV, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and even Tesla Model S if you have the CHAdeMO adaptor.

The Honda Power Exporter will be on display at this year’s CEATEC technology show in Japan. Honda’s small electronic device can connect to any EV or FCV with a CHAdeMO charging port. Except in this case, instead of putting electrons in, it taps into the car’s onboard storage battery to take electrons out.

Then it does something no other device on the market can do. It converts the DC current stored in the car’s battery into AC current that can be fed directly into a home electrical system to power all the lights, motors, compressors, pumps, computers, and entertainment equipment inside. Or it can be an alternate power source anywhere people might ordinarily use a gasoline-powered generator.

Honda says the Power Exporter can provide up to 9 kilowatts of power for an entire week when plugged in to its fuel cell FCV sedan, and all of it without any noise or exhaust emissions. According to CNET, Honda hasn’t announced how much the Power Exporter will cost, but says it will be available along with the production version of Honda’s fuel cell car. The Honda FCV sedan is expected to launch in early 2016. Honda says it is planning package deals that will bundle the Power Exporter with the purchase or lease of an FCV car.

According to a Honda press release, the Power Exporter is part of an entire hydrogen powered system that includes fuel cell cars and its Smart Hydrogen Station (SHS), a packaged hydrogen station unit that adopts Honda’s original high differential pressure electrolyzer. In this way, Honda will work toward the forthcoming “hydrogen society” under three key concepts – “generate,” “use,” and “get connected” – and strive for the early realization of a CO2-free society.

Honda’s vision of a hydrogen-powered society may be a bit optimistic, but the idea of using the battery in electric cars as a backup power source is one that will become more relevant in the very near future. People are beginning to realize that lots of the electricity generated from renewable sources like solar and wind can be stored in the batteries of electric cars. In addition to providing backup power for residences, utility companies could tap into the power stored in our cars to balance the electric grid in the future using the internet of energy.

The Honda Power Exporter may not save the world, but it does offer a hint of what the coming connected world might look like. We will be hearing more about vehicle to grid technology very soon.

Want to plug your EV into your PV system? Of course you do. Here are some resources to get you started:

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